BATON ROUGE — Having won 18 of its last 19 games, the fourth-ranked LSU softball team will play host to No. 15 South Carolina in a three-game Southeastern Conference series at Tiger Park beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday at noon.
Radio coverage of the series on the LSU Sports Network (Jam’n 107.3 FM) will be determined based on the results of the Tiger basketball team in the SEC Tournament in Birmingham, Ala. Live stats for all three games can be accessed on LSUsports.net.
The Tigers (23-4, 4-1 SEC) opened SEC play with a series sweep of Mississippi State. LSU then split a doubleheader at No. 13 Tennessee last weekend. The Gamecocks (13-3, 2-1 SEC) took 2-of-3 from Mississippi State last weekend in their conference opening series.
“This should be a great series,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “South Carolina has the oldest softball tradition in the SEC, having played longer than any other school in the league. They are led by a Hall of Fame coach that always has her team prepared and sound fundamentally.”
The weekend match-up will pair one of the league’s best hitting teams in LSU against one of the best pitching teams in South Carolina. The Tigers currently rank second in the SEC with a .351 team batting average. LSU has also hit a conference-high 30 home runs with 33 doubles and 10 triples.
The Gamecocks are third in the league with a 0.98 earned run average. In 16 games, South Carolina has allowed just 26 total runs and 15 earned runs. Additionally, the Gamecocks have given up just four home runs and no triples.
Sophomore Stephanie Hill leads the Tiger offensive effort with a .423 batting average. The first baseman has five doubles, six home runs, 24 runs batted in and 17 runs scored on the year. Freshman Leslie Klein ranks second in the league with seven home runs, while sporting a .380 batting average with six doubles, three triples, 27 RBIs and 25 runs scored.
Senior All-American Kristin Schmidt leads the Tigers in the circle with a 13-2 record. The right-hander has posted four complete-game shutouts and struck out 112 in 103 innings of work with a 1.77 ERA.
Nancy Crane leads the Gamecocks at the plate with a .407 batting average. She has a double, two RBIs and 11 runs scored. Meghan Cornett follows closely behind with a .383 average and five doubles, three home runs, 10 RBIs and seven runs scored.
Stacey Johnson is the ace of the South Carolina pitching staff. She sports a 7-0 record and a 0.29 earned run average. In eight appearances, she has thrown three complete-game shutouts and combined for a fourth. She has allowed just three runs, two earned, in over 48 innings of work, while striking out 38.
Since LSU reinstated softball in 1997, the Tigers are 13-7 all-time against South Carolina, including a 5-2 record at home. For her career, Yvette Girouard is 27-6 all-time against the Gamecocks, including an 8-2 record at LSU.
The three-game series with South Carolina will conclude with a single game on Sunday beginning at noon. The Tigers will then travel to Shreveport, La., for a non-conference game against Centenary. LSU defeated the Ladies, 9-0 in five innings, in the season opener at Tiger Park.